This past Tuesday Mari and I went to a Rural Vermont raw milk processing workshop at Earthwise Farm and Forest in Bethel, and we learned how to make butter, fromage blanc, ricotta cheese, and yogurt. It was amazing how simple these things are to make! That night for dinner I had a muffin with butter on it and yogurt with fruit, and as I took my first bite I realized that everything I was eating (aside from the fruit, which was from the coop) I had made myself. It felt so satisfying to intimately know the time and care put into nourishing myself, and I realized that the preparation and eating of these foods brings more than just physical nourishment. The practices of planting, picking, milking, mixing, pouring, baking, cooking, and eating bring a clarity to food that is so often forgotten when we fail to think about where our food comes from. When the act of eating becomes a meditation, it allows me to not only connect with the immediate sense of taste, but also to understand the efforts that allowed me to have this meal.
After working on the farm for a month now, I am convinced that food tastes better when you know the care and time that went into it. As the summer season progresses, the gardens are filling in more each day; the tomatoes are flowering and I'm excitedly looking forward to the first fruit. Tell me, what will be better than that first juicy bite of a brandywine after helping it grow?
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